Fire and Ice
by freakyfan3754
Summary: When Cloud and Tifa hear that Zack Aerith and Denzel may be in great danger, they go after them, only to end up with their own lives put in jeopardy. CloudxTifa and ZackxAerith, obviously. Slightly AU.
1. Cloud's nightmare

"Tifa! No!" Cloud sat bolt upright in bed, sweat pouring from his forehead, awakening from his nightmare. He glanced rapidly around the dark room, trying to catch his breath and get his bearings. He ran his hands through his blond spikes, staring blankly ahead for a few moments before falling back on his pillow, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He closed his eyes and rolled over on his side, trying to block out the images he had seen, but he couldn't.

Tifa poked her head in the door. "Cloud? You okay?" she asked. He continued to face the wall, pretending to be asleep; he didn't like the fact that he had cried out in the middle of the night like a frightened child. But Cloud knew Tifa wasn't fooled—she was smarter than that. She sat down on the bed behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, what's wrong?" she said.

"Nothing," he mumbled, not looking at her, "it was nothing."

"Well obviously it was something if you woke up screaming," Tifa replied gently.

"Just some dumb dream, that's all…nothing more."

"Are you telling me or yourself? Come on, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," she said, as if reading his mind. "Marlene is with Barret, and Zack and Aeris are off on vacation this week and took Denzel with them, remember? It's just you and me. And since it was my name you woke up screaming, I'd kind of like to know," she added.

"There's…it's…it's nothing to worry about," Cloud said.

"If you don't tell me, I'll make you fill in for Aeris on her flower-selling until she gets back," Tifa said teasingly.

Cloud sighed and sat up. "All right," he said, rubbing his temples. "It was…we were…it was back in Nibelheim. The night it burned."

"Mm-hm."

"I could see you trapped in a burning house. I'm not sure if it was yours or not—I guess it doesn't really matter. I saw your face in the window—you looked so scared. And I couldn't get to you. I tried but, I …I couldn't move. Like I was cemented to the ground somehow. Then I looked down at my feet and saw blood…just...flowing through the streets. It must've been an inch deep, everywhere I looked."

"Was Sephiroth there?"

"I'm not sure…I didn't see him but I could hear him laughing. It kept getting louder. Then this screaming started…I'm not sure where it was coming from, but it kept getting louder too." The high-pitched sound still rang in Cloud's ears. "Then I looked up and couldn't see your face anymore—only the flames where you had been a moment ago. And I guess that was the end of it."

"I'm sorry Cloud," Tifa said, wrapping her arms around him from behind and resting her chin on his shoulder sympathetically. He put a hand on her arm, as if to hold it still, and continued to stare straight ahead.

"Oh, and you had a child with you for some reason."

"A what? Cloud, I think you should try and get some rest," Tifa said, drawing away slightly. "Would you like me to stay with you for a while?" Cloud's first impulse was to say no—he wasn't a baby, he didn't need taking care of. But he had to admit that feeling her touch and knowing that she was alive felt very good to him right now…

"If you don't mind," he replied.

"Of course not," she said.

***

The next morning Cloud was sitting at the bar, sipping his coffee and mapping out his delivery route for the day as usual. Tifa was behind the bar finishing the previous night's dishes and they were listening to the news on the radio, as they often did.

"In world news," said the voice in the box, "wildfires have been raging towards the village of _____ this weekend…" the sentence was broken up in a burst of muffled static.

"Hey, turn that up, would you?" Cloud asked. Tifa leaned over and adjusted the radio's volume.

"…they say those things sound like a train when they're coming, Steve," one broadcaster was saying to the other.

"Well if you were planning on taking a real train anywhere near the village of Gongaga…" the second broadcaster said to the audience. Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances.

"_Don't,_" the two broadcasters said in unison, chuckling at their little joke. The two listeners at Seventh Heaven weren't laughing.

"That brings us to our traffic report. Jim?"

"Thanks Steve," said another voice, "big jam heading out of Sector Four today…" Tifa turned down the radio. Normally Cloud liked to hear the traffic report but his mind was drifting far away from his delivery route now.

"Gongaga…" Cloud said slowly. "Isn't that where Zack and Aeris were going?"

"Yeah, to see his parents," Tifa said, her eyebrows knitting together, gazing straight ahead at the counter instead of focusing on the glass she was aimlessly drying off. Cloud stared down blankly at his map, spinning his pencil in his fingers as the lines on the paper blurred before him. Tifa put down the glass and said, "I think I'm going to give Zack's cell phone a call. Just to, you know, see how it's going." She quickly moved out from behind the bar as she spoke, trying to hide the urgency in her voice.

"You do that," mumbled Cloud, as Tifa headed for the phone. He tried to focus on the map again but his eyes failed him—he hadn't exactly gotten a good night's sleep. Soon Cloud found himself following Tifa up the stairs and leaning against the wall that faced the little office, with his hands shoved in his pockets. He watched as Tifa stood with her back to him and dialed the number and held the phone to her ear. They both waited as the phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang. Cloud shifted from one foot to the other; there was no answer. Tifa hung up the phone and stared down at it as she held it there.

"They're not picking up," she said, not looking back at him.

"Maybe they just have bad reception," said Cloud. "You know, being out in the country and all."

"Yeah," said Tifa, taking her hand down. "Yeah, that must be it." Clearly neither of them believed what they were saying. They wandered back downstairs and went back to what they had been doing. The only sounds were the scratches of the pencil and the clinks of the glasses as Cloud and Tifa worked in silence. After about ten minutes Tifa's towel had only dried two dishes and Cloud's distracted pencil had squiggled out a route that would have sent Fenrir straight into the ocean. "Cloud," Tifa said finally, "do you think…we should go after them? Y'know…just to be sure?"

Cloud leaned back, away from his map. "You're right…I should probably go."

Tifa slapped her hand down over the map and looked him in the eye. "I said _we._" Cloud looked up at her and said nothing; but Tifa read his face like a book. She knew he couldn't help but think of his nightmare from the night before; after hearing the wildfire reports, he didn't want her to come. "It was a _dream_, Cloud," she said. "Nothing more. You said so yourself." He looked slightly taken aback, but still he said nothing. "They're my friends too, and if they _are_ in trouble, I'm not going to sit back here and play waitress while you go get yourself killed. The world won't end if we close for a day or two," Tifa went on.

Cloud knew Tifa's mind about as well as she knew his. He knew that once her mind was made up, it wasn't easily changed. And most of all, though he hated to admit it, he knew that she was right; it had only been a dream. Without looking at her he sighed and put his map away. A smirk came to Tifa's face as Cloud crossed to the opposite side of the room and put up the sign in the window:

_**Seventh Heaven and Strife Delivery Service: CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.**_


	2. Gongaga

"Are the cap and sunglasses REALLY necessary?" Aeris asked as she Zack and Denzel entered Zack's hometown.

"I can't be recognized by anybody. Shinra spies could be anywhere in the world."

"Since when did you worry about that?"

"Hey, this is my family we're talking about here," Zack said. "Damned if I'm going to put them in danger. Besides, it'll give me a chance to mess with them," he added with a grin.

"You just like messing with everyone don't you? Not even your parents are safe from it," Aeris said with a smirk, shaking her head.

Before long they were standing in front of Zack's parents' house. "Ooh, this is gonna be _great!_" Zack said, practically bouncing with anticipation. "Just let me do the talking." Aeris rolled her eyes as Zack eagerly rapped on the door. He cleared his throat as an old woman opened the door slowly, with a plate and a dishtowel in one hand.

"May I help you?"

"May we come in ma'am?" asked Zack in an unnaturally deep voice, trying to hide his excitement.

"What's your business here?" the woman asked. She had to be Zack's mother. He decided to mess with her a little longer, much to the chagrin of Aeris.

"We're uh, taking a survey," he lied. "It's been a long time since the meltdown here and we want to know how the residents are doi—hey!" Aeris smacked Zack's cap over his eyes before he could finish, knocking his sunglasses down; she had had enough. Not only did she feel sorry for his mother, she also knew that at the rate he was going, they were going to get the door shut in their faces. Zack's hat hit the ground and his shades slid to the end of his nose. He sighed and then peered over them at his mom and gave a little smile. "May we come in ma'am?" he repeated in his normal voice. Her jaw dropped slightly, as did the plate. Zack snatched it out of the air before it hit the floor. "_Oh_ yeah, SOLDIER reflexes, still got 'em!" he said, holding it up triumphantly. Aeris facepalmed. The old woman was still in shock just from seeing him at all. Suddenly she jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. Aeris rolled her eyes again playfully as Zack handed the plate off to her so he could hug his mother back. Tears streamed down the older woman's face as she backed away slightly to take a look at her son.

"Oh Zack, it _is_ you," she said softly. "How many years has it been?"

"More than I can count on my fingers, and I don't feel like doing math on vacation," he answered with a smirk.

"Please, come in." Everyone went inside. "Oh of all the weeks for your father to be off on business!" she said with a laugh; "He's going to think I'm crazy when I tell him you came."

Zack took the plate back from Aeris. "Where d'you keep these?" he asked his mom offhandedly, eying the kitchen cabinets. His mom snatched the dish from him, saying,

"_You_, young man, will not lift a _finger_ while you're here. Sit, sit, sit, all of you," she said, discarding the plate on the table and practically pushing him into a chair in the living room. "You hungry? No, don't answer that, I'm gonna make you people something anyway."

Zack laughed as his mom started bustling around the kitchen. "Don't you love her?" he said to Aeris.

A few minutes later Zack Aeris and Denzel were seated at the table for lunch, and Zack's mom was putting plates out. She had been so busy talking that only then did she notice the boy. "And who might this handsome little fellow be?" she asked.

"Oh that's Denzel," Zack answered, ruffling the kid's hair. "Friend of a friend. We've kind of adopted him."

"Nice to meet you sir," Zack's mom said, reaching across the table and shaking Denzel's hand. He smiled politely. "And I'm certainly happy to have my other handsome little fellow home too," she added, planting a kiss on her son's head.

"I'm not so little anymore," Zack replied in mock annoyance.

"Oh, you'll always be to me," his mom said playfully as she sat down.

"_Man_ it's good to be home," said Zack, picking up his glass and leaning back in his chair.

"Best enjoy it while you can," the old woman said, stirring her tea. "Seems you've come just in time."

"Just in time for what?" Zack asked as he took a drink, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"Shinra's planning to demolish Gongaga."

The water shot from Zack's mouth. "_What?!_ The whole town? They can't do that!"

"They're Shinra," his mother said resignedly, "they can do whatever they want."

"No! I won't have it!" Zack said fiercely standing up abruptly and slamming his glass on the table. "Where'd you hear this?"

"It's really no secret, if you've been paying attention around here," Zack's mom replied. "I've heard the plotting, the whispers in the alleys. Word gets around. The latest is that they're going to burn the place, that it would be the cheapest way. They even spread false rumors of wildfires to the media outlets, so that less suspicion would arise if the town was suddenly wiped out."

"But why would they do such a thing?" Aeris asked. "I mean, people _live_ here."

"Not enough people, I'm afraid," the old woman said. "The town council has been requesting funds for rebuilding every year since the meltdown, but Shinra doesn't seem to think we're worth it."

Zack sat back down and folded his arms. "I'd like to see them tell the people that to their faces."

"Zack, you have to understand, most of the people have moved on," said his mom patiently. "There's nothing left for them here. Families want better places to raise their children, young people want to run off to the big cities to become rich—" she paused "—or to become a hero." Zack gave a small smile and looked away guiltily. His mom ruffled his hair. "Oh, you know I'm just teasing. Relax, you're home!" she said. "Anyway, they're having a meeting tonight to discuss their plans for the demolition. They'll probably set a date and write up eviction notices or something."

"Where's the meeting being held?" Zack asked.

"At that old Shinra outpost a few miles north of here. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," Zack said, grinning, "the one I'd try to sneak into all the time as a kid, until they tightened security."

"Really?" said Aeris, a bemused look on her face as she tried to picture him doing it.

"He'd come home with scratches from the barbed wire fence all the time. You have no idea how many pairs of pants I had to sew up," Zack's mom added with a smirk. "So…you're not thinking of doing anything foolish are you? Like crashing the meeting?"

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" said Zack, feigning innocence.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said jokingly. "I think you should sleep on it for now, Zack. Eat something. Let your head clear a little."

"Yeah, I guess I should," Zack said. But his eyes told everyone at that table that he was going to do the exact opposite.

That night, while Gongaga slept, Zack snuck out of his house and headed for his motorcycle, his buster sword secured on his back. He boarded the bike and reached for the handlebars.

"Running away again?" Zack jumped at the sound of the voice, soft though it was. There stood his wife, leaning against the doorframe.

"Aeris!" Zack whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm not trying to stop you."

"You startled me…I thought you were asleep."

"I just didn't want you to leave without saying goodbye."

"I'm lousy at goodbyes," Zack mumbled, glancing away.

"I just feel bad for your mom," Aeris went on.

Zack sighed. "It's better this way Aeris, it really is. And I've got to do this alone."

"I know," she replied, staring at the floor awkwardly, making circles with her foot. Then she looked up, ran over and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Good luck," she whispered.

"Thanks," he said with a half-smile as she drew away and headed back to the house. "Oh and, Aeris?"

She turned to face him. "Hm?"

"Could you do me a favor and keep an eye on my mom if I …you know, if for whatever reason I don't…um…"

"Hey," said a third quiet voice, as Denzel appeared in the doorway, blissfully unaware of their conversation, "you'll be back tomorrow, right?"

"Of course!" Zack replied, his tone changing instantly. "Just gotta go save a town, that's all," he joked. Denzel smiled as Zack revved his engine. "Now you get your butt back to bed." The boy gave a nod and left as quickly as he had come. Zack and Aeris watched him go. "Tough cookie, that one," Zack mused.

"Yeah…" said Aeris.

"Well, I'll see ya later, I'm out of here," Zack said. _Before I change my mind_, he added in his head.

"See you later," Aeris echoed. She watched as he drove off into the night.

_I hope._


	3. Trouble in the mountains

"So who's this punk again?" the young sniper said to his partner.

"Nobody knows," the other man replied. "But the spies down in Gongaga ain't seen him before so they want to make sure the new kid doesn't try anything funny before the mission tonight."

"Right…" said the first man, looking over his weapon intently. To his surprise his partner started to laugh.

"Now remember, you're just here to observe."

"I am?

"I've seen you in target practice. You probably couldn't hit the broad side of a chocobo barn with that thing, much less a moving target from way up here. Who told you you could try out for SOLDIER, your mom? There, I see him," the older man said, raising his gun to eye level and pointing it downward. "Black hair, big sword and a motorcycle at your three-o-clock."

"Come on, this is my fifth observation mission!" the cadet protested, aiming down in their target's direction as well. "I can take him right between the eyes!"

"You'd be lucky if you hit the damn _road!_" The two men struggled over the cadet's gun. "You'd miss and we'd lose him!"

"The hell I wou—!" A shot echoed through the mountains.

***

Elsewhere in those mountains, Cloud and Tifa were nearing Gongaga. They had been travelling all day and had just about had it with the snowy weather, the winding trails, and each other. It didn't help that night had fallen, and it was starting to snow even harder.

"Cloud, are you keeping up?" said Tifa impatiently, looking over her shoulder.

"Of course I am!" he grumbled, coming up behind her. They both stopped for a moment on an outcropping to catch their breath. "I don't think you me and mountains mix."

"Don't tell me you still feel bad about that accident. Do you know how long ago that was? Honestly Cloud sometimes you really—" Suddenly they heard an explosion from somewhere behind them.

"What the hell was that?!" Cloud exclaimed as they whirled around and looked up. Near the bottom of the icy cliff face they were standing up against they saw a huge hole. What they didn't see was an aircraft flying away in the opposite direction. Suddenly the cliff began to shake with a sound like thunder, as icy chunks started to fall from the top. Cloud and Tifa stared wide-eyed, completely forgetting their argument as the chunks got larger and the ground seemed to start to move out from under them. The mountain itself seemed to be coming down in sheets of ice. Before they knew it a veritable tidal wave of snow, ice and rocks was barreling towards them from above.

"Avalanche!" Tifa cried out, stating the unfortunately-rather-obvious by now. They looked at each other as they stood still, a strange feeling of helplessness coming over both of them. Suddenly a chunk of the cliff crumbled beneath Cloud's foot and he fell, Tifa just barely catching his hand. A second later the massive icy mix collided with her from behind, sweeping them both off the ledge and running them over like a train. Suddenly they were blinded, their bodies tumbling in the raging white oblivion as they tried to stay together.

"Clou--!" Tifa's mouth filled with snow as she opened it to scream.

"Tifa! Hold on!" But his hand could feel hers slipping from his grasp. Then suddenly they were torn apart—and his hand could feel nothing.


	4. Dreams and Realities

Tifa gasped for air as she finally fought her way out of the snow. She got out up to her waist and took in her surroundings. Her clothes and hair were soaked, her coat long gone. An anxious look crossed her face as she saw that there were no signs of life in any direction. "Cloud…?" Her voice echoed eerily through the vast white emptiness, made even whiter by the fact that it was still snowing blindingly. She hugged herself for warmth and closed her eyes as her hair and the wet flakes whipped her face, suddenly feeling very alone. Then she thought she heard another voice over the howling wind.

"Tifa!" She whirled around to see a tall tree a slight distance behind her, and there was Cloud, hanging from the top of it, looking for her.

"Cloud!" she called again, this time with relief in her voice as she waved her arm. She began to make her way her through the snow towards him as he started down from the tree. But just as Tifa reached it she heard a sickening snap. She looked up to see Cloud rapidly crashing down, with each break of a branch sounding like a gunshot. Before she could move aside he landed on top of her, making a ten foot deep Cloud-and-Tifa-shaped hole in the snow. Slowly they climbed out and flopped down on their backs, exhausted. "You okay?" Tifa asked, using a branch to pull herself to her feet.

"Yeah, you?" he replied, sitting up.

"Yeah — ow!" Tifa's leg sank through the snow. Cloud looked at her. She pulled her foot back out, glaring down at it. "Or not."

"Sprained?"

"I think so."

"I'm sorry I fell on you."

"Shut up."

Cloud stood up and looked around. "We need to get back to civilization somehow," he said.

"How? I can barely see a thing in this blizzard," said Tifa.

"Well we could at least find some shelter," Cloud replied, sliding an arm under hers to support her. He peered off to the side and saw a small cave a slight distance away. "There," he said, pointing. "You think you can make it?" Tifa nodded and they slowly made their way over. Before long they had reached the entrance.

They crawled in and Tifa sat down, leaning against the icy wall of the cave with an exasperated sigh. "Now what?" she asked, as if not really expecting an answer.

"We stay here till the storm blows over I guess," Cloud replied, sitting beside her and staring at nothing.

"Great, we get to freeze to death," Tifa grumbled.

"Not if we can keep our body temperatures up," Cloud mumbled, reaching around her shoulders and rubbing her upper arm.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tifa asked, raising a reproachful eyebrow at him.  
"Nothing." It wasn't really the answer she had wanted, but she didn't say anything. Before long she found herself dozing off on his shoulder. Cloud's eyes were closing too but he wasn't about to let her see that. "Just don't go to sleep," he said, pulling her a little closer. "You know what they say about this weather…if you go to sleep, you might…"

"…never wake up," Tifa finished. She put her hand on his other shoulder. "I know. I used to be a guide, remember?"

"Right…sorry."

"Don't be…sorry…"

Within an hour they were wrapped up in each other's arms, both unconscious.

***

Tick…tock. Tick…tock. Tick…tock.Sigh. Aeris rolled over and looked at the little clock on the nightstand—1:45 A.M. Zack had left around ten and she still couldn't sleep. Tick…

"Aah!" cried a voice in the next room.

"Denzel?" Aeris scrambled out of bed and hurried in to where her adopted son was sleeping. Or _had_ been sleeping. She found him wide awake, sitting up and staring straight ahead, bug-eyed and breathing hard. She came in and sat down on the bed beside him, putting an arm over his shoulders. "Bad dream, hon?"

"Yeah," Denzel said, nodding.

"Tell me," Aeris said gently.

"They got him and they took him away…" the boy said shakily. No need to ask who 'he' was; Aeris knew Denzel was talking about Zack. "Then they beat him up, really bad. And then they…they—" Denzel shook his head, his eyes still wide, as if he was afraid to say what had happened next. Aeris drew him in close. Zack's mom poked her head in.

"Everything okay in here…?" she asked.

"Just a little nightmare…" Aeris said softly.

"I heard Zack leave, was it about him?"

"How'd you know?" Aeris and Denzel said in unison.

The old woman gave a sad smile. "I had a little boy once too, y'know," she reminded them. She came in and sat down as well. "Used to sleep in this very bed. I know you two aren't really related but, Zack would sometimes have those kinds of dreams too when he was your age. His mind was always very…active."

"Heh, I bet," said Aeris.

"He'll be back," said Denzel, drawing away and looking up at Aeris. "He said he would…didn't he?" Aeris could see that he was telling himself as much as her.

She smiled down at him, her face tired. "That's right," she said. Denzel laid back on the pillow with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

"Try and get some rest now, little one," said Zack's mom to Denzel, standing up slowly and heading for the door. Aeris ran her hand over his forehead before following her. The two women stopped in the doorway, facing each other. "Are _you_ all right, dear?" Zack's mom asked Aeris, whispering so that Denzel couldn't hear.

"Me? I'm fine," Aeris replied. But the elder Mrs. Fair could see that the younger was as pale as the moonlight stabbing its way into the room. She put a hand on Aeris' shoulder.

"Just be strong for _him_," she said, jerking her head towards Denzel. "He needs you."

Aeris glanced down and nodded, then looked over at him. "Denzel? Would you like me to stay with you for a little while?" He looked at her, biting his lip thoughtfully. At last he said,

"If you don't mind."

"Of course not."

Before long, Denzel had dozed off again, and Aeris left the room, quietly so as not to wake him. Seeing that both he and Zack's mother were sound asleep, she put on her jacket and shoes and went out for a walk, just to clear her head. She walked through the deserted little streets of Gongaga, past the dark houses, many of them abandoned and boarded up since the meltdown. She looked up at the moon, full and still shining brightly, though a few clouds were beginning to gather. She went out to the edge of the village and kept walking, though she didn't really know why. For a while she walked along the bottom of the slope that the main highway was on, the highway where Zack had gone by on his bike a few hours before, and was probably on still, somewhere. She stopped and gazed up again, a sigh escaping her lips along with a cloud of vapor that quickly rose up towards the mountains and lost itself in the night air.

'_He'll be back. He said he would…didn't he?'_

Aeris pulled her jacket a little closer around herself as it started to drizzle, and she decided to turn back before she got much farther from town. Not long after, something at the bottom of the slope caught her eye that she hadn't noticed the first time by. She knelt down by the side of the path for a closer look. The garbled voices of the Planet began to murmur in her head, but suddenly she didn't feel like listening anymore. Instead her ears were filled with the sound of the raindrops rapidly pinging off of the object's surface as they fell. Aeris' heart fell with them, as she stared at the bullet lodged in the top materia slot of the cold buster sword in her quivering hands.


	5. Prisoners

Cloud awoke in total darkness, lying not in a cave but on a cold stone floor on his stomach. He lifted his head, barely able to see the wall in front of his face. "Tifa?"

"Cloud?" said a voice nearby. "Where are we?" Cloud sat up, turning around. He could make out Tifa's form sitting against a longer wall to his right, as his eyes adjusted to the dim light coming through the bars on a door across the room from her. Wait, bars?

"I don't know…" he replied. Tifa crawled her way to the door to examine it, her ankle still aching, and jiggled the handle. Locked, of course. She took hold of the bars to pull herself up and peered down the corridor as far as she could, in hopes of getting at least some idea as to where they were. At the end of the hallway she saw a pair of automatic glass doors. On the other side stood an armed guard, with his back to them. By the look that came to her face, Cloud could tell that something was wrong.

"No," Tifa muttered in disbelief, mostly to herself. "No way…"

"What is it?" he asked.

"Cloud," she said, "I think you'd better come take a look at this." Cloud got up and joined her at the door and looked down the hallway. On the doors they could see the back side of a large red logo. A very familiar large red logo.

"Shinra," Cloud growled. "How?"

"And why?" Tifa wondered.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Cloud muttered as they went and sat back down in their previous places. They leaned against the walls and sighed in frustration. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if they saw us and _caused_ that avalanche, just to do us in." Cloud said.

"Just for two people? That's ridiculous!" Tifa retorted.

"You know what happened to Sector 7," Cloud reminded her.

"Yeah…" They sat in silence for a few moments, remembering Shinra's brutal crushing of an entire sector in order to kill just a few of Cloud and Tifa's fellow AVALANCHE members. Cloud knew full well the measures that Shinra would take to do away with just two people. Suddenly their thoughts were interrupted when the door flew open and another person was thrown in at the far end of the cell, skidding across the floor to the opposite wall. The door closed again and was locked quickly before any of the prisoners could make a move. The newcomer jumped up and rattled the bars angrily as the two guards walked away.

"You son of a bitch!" he shouted, "You set one foot in Gongaga and I'll kick your ass to the Northern Crater when I get out of here! You hear me?!" But they didn't hear him, or if they had, they'd ignored him. They had walked through the doors and turned the corner, and were gone. He punched at the steel bars in frustration—which probably wasn't the brightest idea. He sighed, flexing his hand. Then he heard the voice of another prisoner.

"_Zack?"_ Cloud said in surprise.

Zack jumped and snapped his head over, noticing his friends for the first time. "Spiky? Tifa? What are you guys doing here?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Cloud grumbled.

"We came after you guys," said Tifa. "We heard about the wildfires in the Gongaga area and—"

"Ugh," Zack smacked his forehead and rolled his eyes. "Mom was right, they did send the false reports out," he muttered, mostly to himself as he paced around with his hands resting on his head, staring at the ceiling.

"You mean there're no fires in Gongaga?" Cloud said, exchanging glances with Tifa in disbelief that they had come all this way for nothing.

"No," said Zack, "but there might be if I don't get _out of here!_" He punched the bars again.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Tifa, raising an eyebrow.

"Right, sorry," Zack mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Long story."

"We're not going anywhere," Cloud reasoned, folding his arms.

"Alright," Zack sighed and sat down against the back wall beside them, and told them everything.

"Typical Shinra," Tifa grumbled bitterly.

"So that's why I've got to get out of here and find out where they're holding that meeting," Zack finished. "Or else I'll find out how you guys felt when _your_ town got toasted." Cloud and Tifa gave him a look. "Well, maybe not _exactly_ how you guys felt, unless Shinra's got Sephiroth in a little test tube somewhere and they're gonna let him out for a day."

"Knowing _them_…" mumbled Cloud.

Zack got up and began pacing the room again with his hands on his head, as before. "Anyway, it's only a meeting, so we might have some time," he said thoughtfully.

"What exactly were you planning on doing?" Cloud asked unenthusiastically.

Zack stopped and turned to face them. "Honestly I don't know," he said with a shrug. "But I had to do something other than just sit back and wait. I was halfway here, too," he added in disgust, "but a couple of snipers ran me right off the friggin' road. Knocked me out cold. Next thing I knew these bums were dragging me down here. They said something about AVALANCHE but I couldn't really make it out."

"They might've thought you were with us, or thought you knew something about us that they didn't," Tifa said.

"Plus it was probably a good excuse to get you out of the way until they were finished with Gongaga," Cloud added.

"Probably," Zack echoed, looking more restless and angry by the minute as he wandered back towards the door. He pounded it a third time "Those _bastards!_"

"Hey!" shouted the Shinra guard from the other end of the hall, brandishing his weapon. "You shut up down there!" Zack started to shout something back but suddenly felt very wobbly and drowsy. He noticed that Cloud and Tifa were glazing over too. The guard smirked, for he had in fact cast Sleep materia on all of them without them realizing it. One by one they sank to their knees, and before long, all three prisoners were unconscious.


	6. Escape Sort of

"Where is he?!" demanded the man that burst through the door of the bar, wearing a Shinra army uniform, armed with a rifle.

"Who?" asked Aeris.

"You know very well who," the man said as two others came in behind him, also armed and dressed exactly like him.

"No I don't," she said, feigning innocence.

Suddenly Zack entered from another room. "Hey, what's going on here?" he demanded.

Aeris dove in front of him. "Zack, look ou—!" Bullets hit her square in the back of the head and Zack whirled around just as she hit the floor.

"Aeris!" he cried out. He fell to his knees and turned her over, revealing her cold pale face as the pool of blood beneath her head grew rapidly. He shook her by the shoulders but she was nonresponsive. He felt for a pulse—nothing. "AERIS!"

Zack's scream echoed off the stone walls of the prison cell as he sat bolt upright, eyes flying open. He looked wildly around the room as he realized he had been dreaming. He let out a shuddering breath as his head fell into his hands._ Holy crap…_ he thought. _Holy…freakin'…_

"You too?" said a voice. Startled, Zack turned around to see Tifa awake.

"Huh?"

"I know that look. Cloud had a nightmare too the other night," she said. "Plus the fact that you screamed out the name of someone who's not here was a clue."

"Heh, yeah," Zack muttered, embarrassed . "Sorry to wake you."

"No, it's fine," Tifa replied. "Stupid sleep materia. What are you doing?" She looked up to see Zack breaking into squats for no apparent reason.

"Thinking."

"Or maybe trying to get your heart started again," Tifa teased.

"That too—whoops," said Zack as a couple of materias fell from his pocket.

"Where'd those come from?" Tifa asked.

"Swiped 'em from the guys who brought me in. I'd forgotten about them," he replied, stopping and picking them up. "Nothing particularly good here though, at least not for getting us out of here." Tifa got to her feet and started to come over for a look, but fell back down before she could take a step, cursing out her ankle sprain and nearly landing on the still-sleeping Cloud.

"I can take that Cure off your hands," she grumbled, recognizing at least one of the materias Zack was holding.

"Be my guest," Zack said with a smirk as he flipped it to her.

"So," Tifa said as she applied the Cure to herself, "what happened to Aeris?"  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, the dream…uh…" Zack stared at the floor without really seeing it, rubbing the back of his neck as the rest of his sentence got lost in the abyss of a mumble.

"She what?"

"She took a bullet for me."

"Oh." Tifa could see that he was too embarrassed to stay on the topic much longer. Or maybe too freaked out. Not that he would ever admit it. She knew how men were.

"So Spiky had some sweet dreams too, huh?" Zack asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I still worry about him sometimes," Tifa muttered, allowing her fingers to run through the chocobo-like head of hair at her side.

"I don't," said Zack, sitting down cross-legged opposite her, looking smug all of a sudden. "Not one bit."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"'Cause he's got you." Zack grinned mischievously as Tifa blushed and looked away with a smile of her own. She was about to say something else when she saw Zack holding his head and staring at the floor again.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, I just…I could swear I heard machine guns." Zack replied. He raised his eyes to the ceiling. "I really am losing it aren't I?"

"No, you're not…" Tifa said slowly, getting to her feet and looking up as well.

"How d'you know?"

"Because I hear them too." A startled look crossed Zack's face and he quickly stood up, glancing towards the barred door with Tifa.

"If they're under attack it'd be a great diversion," Zack said thoughtfully.

"Who would bother to overrun them all the way out here though?" Tifa wondered aloud as they walked up to the door. "Is it monsters?" Suddenly as if on cue, a loud animalistic roar was heard echoing throughout the building.

"I'd say that's a good guess!" Zack said, his eyes widening. It was now clear that the shooters of the machine guns were on the defensive, against whatever this thing was. And Zack didn't need his mako-enhanced hearing to know that the attacker had quite a weapon of its own. It was on a killing spree and quickly getting closer to the basement where they were being held. Then suddenly they heard a loud gunshot echoing down the hall and a shout as the guard from earlier met his demise. "Well here he comes. And we've got no weapons, no escape plan, and Cloud is_ still asleep_. Fantastic," Zack said, mostly to himself.

"Cloud, wake up!" snapped Tifa, cracking her knuckles in preparation. As she turned her back to the door Zack grabbed hold of the bars and looked out to analyze the threat.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

It was a creature like none he had ever seen before, even back in SOLDIER training. It had glowing yellow eyes, and a set of claws that looked like they could slice you in half with one blow; and from the blood dripping from them they had probably already claimed a few victims. The thing looked almost human but it had raggedy red bat-like wings on its back, and a bird's-nest of weird red horns on its head_._ Before they knew it the beast had stopped right in front of the cell and he was looking in. Tifa rushed back to the door to have a look just as he aimed his huge gun, staring straight ahead with a face devoid of emotion, except for maybe blind rage.

Suddenly Tifa shouted at the monster. "VINCENT!" Zack gave her a bewildered look as the intruder suddenly seemed to freeze, his expression changing slightly, as if snapped out of a daze. His right arm started to shake, as if it was going to fire the gun no matter what his brain told it to do. Tifa could see this as she kept her eyes fixed on the invader and she yelled to Zack, "Move!" She gave Zack a shove and they dove to either side as the trigger was pulled. A loud shot echoed through the prison cell. But to the relief of all, they looked up to see that the only thing that had been shot was the door, leaving splinters and scrap metal where the lock used to be. Cloud finally woke up at the sound of the final shot. Much to Zack's surprise the shooter had lowered his weapon and was leaning against the wall, looking tired. Suddenly the attacker spoke, in a very humanoid voice.

"Thanks, Tifa. That could've…ended badly."

"No kidding," she replied as she and Zack got up from the floor. "What happened? Is your protomateria acting up again?"

"You really need to remind Yuffie to fix that." Cloud added from the back of the room, getting to his feet and joining them as well.

"Whoa, whoa, time out," Zack broke in. "Did I MISS SOMETHING HERE!?"

"Oh, that's right, you've never seen Vincent in his Chaos form before," Tifa said innocently.

"Of course," Zack said, throwing up his hands with a 'now I've seen everything' look on his face. "I totally knew that he was possessed by some freakin' demon."

"Four actually," Tifa cracked.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"I was doing some minor investigating as a favor to Reeve and my protomateria did have a malfunction." Vincent answered. "Once control was lost, these Shinra troops became…sitting ducks. What about you?" The three friends explained their situation briefly. Zack refrained from mentioning his nightmare. "We should get going," Vincent said after hearing them out. "Whatever troops are left have probably regrouped by now." Everyone left the cell through what was left of the door and quickly headed further down the hallway, towards a pair of two more individual wooden doors at the end of it. "The door on the right will send us towards the exit," said Vincent.

"Where does the one on the left go?" Zack asked.

"The old torture chambers," Vincent replied simply, drawing a few mildly-freaked out expressions.

"Is that what you were supposed to be investigating?" Zack ventured as they reached the doors.

Vincent gave a nod. "It's classified information, but there were rumors that this base was holding—" he was interrupted by the sound of running footsteps approaching.

"It went this way!" someone shouted. Chaos once again shot and obliterated the lock of the door on the right and the other three all made it through after him before the guards could round the corner and enter their hallway at the other end. Once through the doorway the fugitives made another turn and found themselves in an old stone corridor, at the end of which they finally saw daylight. As they got closer they saw a very high wall a slight distance away. They knew that beyond that wall was freedom. But just as Vincent reached the doorway he stopped short, the others nearly crashing into him. Then they looked down at the ground and saw the reason why. Dozens of thin red laser beams had appeared as soon as human motion was sensed, criss-crossing and covering the entire walled-in area like a carpet.

"What is it?" Tifa asked.

"They've made another addition to their security system that I wasn't aware of," Vincent said, looking around. "It's a modern minefield. Motion sensitive. If one laser beam is stepped on, the whole thing goes up. The only way across is for me to fly each of you over."

"Can you do that?" Zack asked.

"If we hurry," said Chaos, leaving his feet and spreading his wings slightly. He grabbed onto the back of Zack's shirt, as he happened to be the closest, and lifted him up off the ground. "Come on." In no time the two of them made it over the minefield. Luckily the area was not guarded, as any escapees would presumably have blown themselves up had they gone this way. But as Zack and Vincent flew over the wall they realized the other reason why: the base had been built on a ledge. Beyond the wall was a sheer drop of at least a hundred feet, with barely a foot of ground to stand on between the building and the precipice. Vincent had to leave his cargo on the top of the wall. "Wait here," he ordered. Zack perched atop the stones and waited as Vincent quickly brought Tifa next, without any trouble. Lastly he flew back for Cloud. But before they could make it to the wall a handful of Shinra soldiers appeared in the doorway from where the prisoners had come.

"There they are!" someone shouted. Suddenly the troops opened fire with their machine guns, forcing their targets to dodge their bullets. Chaos flew every which-way and the blond squirmed like a fish on a hook.

"Hurry!" Tifa urged.

"Look out!" said Zack, pulling Tifa down as the shots whizzed over their heads, following Vincent and Cloud to the wall. Suddenly a few bullets clipped Vincent's claws and Cloud fell from his grasp. Tifa let out a yelp and lunged over with such force that Zack had to grab her foot to keep her from falling herself. But she couldn't reach Cloud, who now clung to the side of the wall below them, digging his feet into the stones and hanging precariously. They all knew that if anyone hit the ground it would all be over. Another bullet caught Cloud's leg and he lost his footing, slipping further.

"Cloud, hang on!" cried Tifa.

"Tifa, just—just get out of here!" She shook her head, still straining to reach him. Suddenly they heard a shout from above and Tifa felt her foot released. Zack had been hit in the head, causing his hand to let go as he was thrown off balance. The shot instantly knocked him backwards over the wall and he lost sight of Cloud and Tifa. A split-second later there was a huge explosion on the side he had just left, sending smoke and rubble flying and leaving Zack looking on in horror. He didn't even realize at first that Chaos had snatched him up again. Then Vincent turned and started to fly him away in the other direction.

"Wha—hey!" cried Zack in protest. "What are you doing?"

"There's nothing more we can do here." Vincent said gravely.

"Where are we going?!"

"Where you wanted to." Zack followed Chaos' gaze to a tower of billowing black smoke in the distance, and drew in a sharp breath. One look told him where the source was. Gongaga was burning.


	7. Trial by fire

"You blundering fools!" shouted a man that appeared to be the one in charge as he came running out onto what was left of the minefield. "We wanted them alive!"

"They _are_ alive," one of the soldiers replied, sounding equally exasperated. "It's that idiot Peterson who set it off."

"Poor rookie forgot where he was walkin'," said another.

"Well if he hadn't been such an idiot—" the first soldier retorted. Cloud and Tifa lifted their heads from the rubble and were relieved to see each other as the men argued amongst themselves.

"Enough!" the commander said finally. "Bring them over already." Before Cloud and Tifa knew it they were being handcuffed and dragged to their feet. They squirmed in vain as they were led back towards the door.

"Let go!" Tifa said to the guard with her.

"Shut up!" He gave her a quick slap in the face. He chuckled smugly at Cloud's expression, knowing that the blond wanted to snap his neck but couldn't.

The commander stood in the small stone corridor as they were brought through the door. "Well well, if it isn't the famous Strife and Lockhart," he said. "On your knees, traitors." The prisoners stood still until whacks in the shins with rifles brought them down. With haggard faces they glared up at the man, who was looking very pleased with himself. "That's better."

"Why did you bring us here?" Tifa demanded, uttering the question that had been going through her and Cloud's minds for hours.

"Well it's really very simple," the man said condescendingly. "_We_ are a Shinra outpost. And _you_ are AVALANCHE leaders. How lucky that we came upon two of you. Not so hot without your wannabe vampires and ninjas, now are you?"

"What do you want?" said Cloud gruffly.

"Your heads on a platter and a nice promotion out of this dump would suffice," the man said casually, holding his head up high and giving a cocky smirk that would've made anyone want to punch him in the face. "We _tried_ to keep it clean, burying you on that mountain, but you just refuse to die," he went on, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We brought you here because we hoped that you would be so kind as to tell us where your fellow members are, in which case you can die nice and quick."

"Never." Cloud and Tifa said flatly in unison.

"Ah well, it was worth a shot," the man replied. He smiled again and said, "Looks like there's going to be something to do around here tonight after all." He jerked his head, motioning for the soldiers to pull the prisoners back to their feet and bring them inside. After they went back into the hallway from where they had come, Tifa and Cloud were led through the door on the left instead of the right.

_'The old torture chambers.'_

***

Chaos and Zack soon reached Gongaga, the color draining from the latter's face as they flew over the burning village, every house engulfed in flames. Zack knew that his house would be no exception, as he anxiously scanned the area looking for his family.

"Where are we going, Zack?" Vincent said impatiently.

"There!" the ex-SOLDIER said suddenly, pointing as he spotted his home through the smoke with his enhanced eyesight. Chaos headed rapidly downward.

Meanwhile Zack's mother was standing a few yards away, having fled from the house, and saw a very odd sight: a winged creature coming towards her with her son in its clutches. But, fearless woman that she was, she had no trouble shaking her fist up at the monster as if scolding him. "Hey! You let go of my boy!" the demanded. To her surprise Chaos did so and Zack landed on all fours.

"I was planning to." Vincent replied. The old woman stared at him, dumbfounded.

"It's ok Mom, he's on our side," Zack said as he stood up, almost laughing.

"Good thing," she said, raising an eyebrow. Then she snapped out of her daze and threw her arms around her son. "Oh Zack, I'm so glad to see you. When the troops from the base came before you did, we feared the worst." Then she gasped and put her hand to her mouth, as if realizing something. "Oh my goodness, it was you!" she said suddenly.

"What're you talking about?" Zack asked.

"I heard one of them on the phone with a superior," Zack's mom said quickly. "He was asking about a photo he'd sent of an escaped prisoner, and if they'd 'checked him out yet.' " Zack put his hand to his forehead, knowing exactly where this was going. They must have been calling Junon for a background check on the 'prisoner' since they were so out of the loop — and now they knew everything. "Then later he told one of his men, 'Screw the mission, you take down that target!'" Zack's mother finished. She didn't have to tell them that the troops would stop at nothing until they did just that.

"Where are the other two?" Vincent broke in.

Suddenly as if on cue, Denzel came dashing around a corner towards them. "Zack!" he called out. Zack dropped to one knee and caught the boy by the shoulders.

"Denz," he said with relief, "You okay pal?" Denzel quickly nodded, still out of breath.

"Yeah, but…I-I think…Aeris is still in there," Denzel said nervously. He looked back at the house and swallowed. Then he looked away almost guiltily and talked fast. "Some guy broke down the front door looking for you. He started firing into the air." Zack stiffened — he couldn't help but think of his nightmare again.

"Then what?" Vincent asked Denzel.

"Another guy came in the back door. W-we couldn't get out."

"And then?" Zack pressed.

"She…she pushed me out the window and told me to run," Denzel finished, looking back up at Zack. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Zack said quickly, his eyes fixed on the burning house as he stood up. He clapped a hand on Denzel's shoulder. "Vincent, can you get them to safety?" Vincent gave a nod and Zack bolted for the house.

"Zack!" his mother called, but he was already bursting through the doorway, greeted by a blast of heat to the face as he tried to see inside. He spotted an armed infantryman facing one of the windows, unaware of his presence, possibly acting as a lookout. Zack suddenly jumped him, grabbing him in a headlock. The man let out a startled gag as his machine gun went off, sending a round into the ceiling and falling from his hands.

"Where's the girl?" growled Zack's voice behind him.

"F-fuck off!"

"Wrong answer." With one swift move Zack threw him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. He then tore off the infantryman's helmet and plunked it on his own head, half-hiding his face, and seized the still partly-loaded machine gun. He dashed across the room, heading further into the house. Suddenly he nearly tripped on a large rag; his eyes widened as he saw what it was. It was the remains of a nightgown. He knew he had seen it earlier that night –except it had been on Aeris, and it hadn't been smoldering.


	8. Bodies

"Let's try this again. Wallace. "

"I don't know who you're talking about," Cloud growled. He got an elbow to the head as he and Tifa sat in the cold torture chamber, tied up in chairs.

"Highwind."

"Died in a crash," Tifa lied. One of the men slapped her again.

"Kisaragi!"

"Assassinated by rebels," said Cloud with a straight face. Punch in the stomach.

"Valentine!"

"Never heard of him." Cloud and Tifa had been tortured for two hours and still had not released the location of a single AVALANCHE name. But their bodies weren't going to last much longer, and neither was the Shinra guards' patience.

***

"You know where he is! He's dead! You _killed him!_" cried Aeris.

"Damn it, woman!" The soldier struck her down, tearing off the last of her clothes as he went. She hit the floor of the burning house, cowering in a tangle of sheets against the wall. "If I'd done that I'd have a freakin' promotion by now," he said

"You people shot him off the road!"

"Like hell we did," he gave her a kick and she let out a cry. "You're covering for him!"

"Johnson!" his younger partner reacted. "Chill out, man! She's just a—"

"You givin' me orders, runt? They _said_, 'whatever it takes'. Don't interrupt, I'm trying to get information here!"

"Well you're doin' a hell of a job," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up!" As they argued Aeris saw another set of three red dots pierce the smoke in the dark doorway as a third soldier entered silently from the left. He aimed his rifle her way as Johnson's boot landed on her throat and choked her. "Where's he hiding?" A helmet clattered to the floor behind him.

"PLAIN SIGHT, BITCH!" A flurry of shots suddenly exploded from the doorway as the silhouette opened fire. A scream rang out from his lungs as his rage consumed him, his bullets tearing into Johnson's chest before the unsuspecting infantryman could get a single shot off. The other cadet lost his gun as his hands were shot at; he panicked and fled out the back way as his partner met his end before even hitting the blood-soaked floorboards. Zack hurled the empty gun at what was left of the dead man's head. He scrambled over and shoved the body aside to find Aeris beneath, out cold. Fear tugged at him as he dropped to one knee and quickly wrapped her up in the sheet, his heart pounding, knowing that hers wasn't. He heard a loud crack overhead and lunged over Aeris as a smoldering beam fell from the ceiling.

***

"Ugh!"

Cloud was thrown against the stone wall of the chamber and crumpled to the floor. Another hour had passed. His body was bloodied and his strength was quickly draining from him as he knelt there, his head hung and his eyes half shut as the room swam before him. He felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.

"No, please!" cried Tifa from the other side of the room, where she was flat on her back.

"Oh, ready to talk are we?" the other guard sneered.

"No…I meant…him," she said, lolling her head to the side and looking towards Cloud. "N-Not him first." Cloud's eyes opened a little wider at the sound of her voice, startled as his tortured brain processed what she had just said: Tifa didn't want to watch him die. He felt the gun leave his head. Then the man standing over him turned to Tifa, as if suddenly losing interest in Cloud altogether. The man appeared to size her up for a moment. Then a smirk came to his face.

"Say," he said to his partner, walking over, "if she's not gonna talk, don't you think she'd be great for that experiment?"

"What experiment?" Cloud spat out. He saw genuine terror enter Tifa's eyes for the first time that night. They both knew that the word 'experiment' and Shinra bases did not go well together.

"Don't we need authorization for that?" the other guard said, ignoring Cloud.

"The hell with authorization, we may _never_ find another body like this. I say we use it," the first man replied, grabbing the weakened Tifa up off the floor and slinging her over his shoulder. She swung her fists in vain as he headed for the door that led to the next room. He grinned and said to his partner, "You just take care of Blondie. You heard the lady, don't shoot him right away. Kill him nice and slow." Tifa reached out her arms in a last effort and Cloud stumbled forward but the two prisoners could not reach one another.

"Cloud!"

"Tifa!"

_Slam. Click._


	9. Where are we going?

Cloud was left staring at the closed, locked door. He took off towards it but was tripped before he could get there. The remaining guard laughed at him until Cloud sprang to his feet and grabbed him by his shirtfront. "What's he doing in there?" Cloud demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know," the man said with a chuckle.

Cloud turned and shoved him hard up against the door. "WHAT IS HE DOING TO HER IN THERE?!" he thundered, running on pure adrenaline now as the sweat and blood trickled down his face. But the guard quickly regained control of the situation as he pushed Cloud off and the small blonde staggered back.

"I'm afraid that's _highly_ classified. But don't worry," the man said, reaching into his shirt pocket. "We'll keep you entertained." He withdrew a materia and held it aloft. Cloud's eyes widened as he saw it glow red—a summon. They were going to bring in a monster to keep him out—and finish him off. "Well I'd better get going before tonight's star attraction shows up," the man said casually as the materia glowed brighter. "Here, you might need this." He tossed Cloud a small tarnished sword that looked to be at least a couple of decades old.

The swordsman stared at it as he heard the man leave and lock the door; it had one rusty materia slot but it was the most pathetic weapon he had ever seen. _Materia…_suddenly Cloud remembered the materia that Zack had swiped. The last one had ended up in the rubble outside and Cloud had found it just before being recaptured. _Is it still there?_ He reached in his pocket and his fingers closed around the small orb within as he heard an almighty crash, and looked up to see a giant hole appear in the ceiling and the right wall. Flames shot around the perimeter of the room and an Ifrit suddenly towered over him. Cloud readied the measly sword, gripping it tightly as he stared down the beast with bleary eyes, breathing hard. His hands were shaking, his knees weak as the sweat raced down his body. He had to do this…he had to live. And behind that locked door was the one reason why.

Vincent was back in human form as he snuck Zack's mom and Denzel into his room at the inn where he'd been staying while on his mission from Reeve.

"What do we do now?" Denzel asked as he and Zack's mom climbed onto the bed.

Vincent turned on the news on the television and then joined them. "We wait." Neither of the other two really understood what that meant. Neither asked.

The woman on the screen was on the scene in Gongaga, reporting on the fires. "The number of casualties is yet unknown, but as you can see, the wildfires have almost completely destroyed the village," she was saying in her best concerned voice. "Shinra is doing its best to get the situation under control."

"Wildfires indeed," Zack's mother grumbled. "Propaganda-spewing B.S. artists, the whole lot of them. How stupid do they think we are?"

"Those in power always rely on public ignorance," said Vincent simply.

"Here we have some footage from a few moments ago," the news anchor in the studio said. The image of a couple of burning houses appeared on the screen.

"Hey," said Denzel to Zack's mom, pointing to the one on the left. "Isn't that _your_ house?"

"Yes…yes it is," she replied. They stared for a moment at the last place they had seen Zack and Aeris alive. Suddenly in the background they heard rapid gunfire coming from the house, which the reporters conveniently failed to mention as they quickly cut away. The boy and the old woman looked at each other, eyes wide. Vincent had shown no reaction, and as they turned to him his cell phone rang from the nightstand where he had left it behind earlier. He flipped it open to see Reeve's name on the screen. He rolled his eyes slightly, as if he knew what Reeve was going to say, and held the phone to his ear.

"Valentine," Vincent grumbled.

"Vincent, did you find it?"

"No. Complications arose before I could complete the investigation," the cloaked man said, eying his two curious onlookers. "Several complications."

"What do you mean, complications? Vincent, this was a _search and destroy mission_," said the urgent voice on the other end. "The consequences of them falling into the wrong hands could be—"

"I'm aware of the hazards."

"What happened?"

"I can't fully explain at this time. I'll need some backup."

"I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on," said Reeve. "What exactly do you want?"

"For starters," Vincent replied, "transportation."

By the time Zack ran out of his house carrying Aeris, the town looked more like a war zone than anything else. It was Nibelheim all over again. It was probably a pretty stupid idea to put his mother and Denzel in the care of an unstable Chaos, but at least they weren't here. He dashed to the other side of what was left of the town square and took shelter in the back of an abandoned armored truck, one of the few things he could find that wasn't on fire. He sank to his knees, catching his breath for the first time in what seemed like hours. He felt the full weight of Aeris' motionless body in his arms. This was no dream. _I am getting so plastered when I get back to Seventh Heaven,_ Zack thought. Suddenly the engine revved. _Shit!_ He laid Aeris down and sprang to his feet. Who the hell was driving? As the truck took off, a third passenger jumped in from the back, rifle first. With one swift move Zack seized the barrel of the gun with both hands and flung its bearer to the far wall. The soldier looked up to see his own weapon being pointed at him. Then the two men recognized each other.

"You!" they both said at once. It was the Shinra grunt that had escaped the house. He threw a nervous look at Aeris.

"That's right, admire your work why don't you," Zack said sarcastically. Then a voice was heard from the man's phone, which had gone flying.

"Samson?" It was the driver. Zack picked it up, still aiming at the gun straight ahead with his other hand. "Cadet Samson do you copy?"

"Oh he's here alright," Zack said, "and he's got about five seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow his face off."

"Who is this?!" the voice on the other end demanded.

"It's that crazy prick from the house!" cried the soldier sitting on the floor.

"Were you even listening?" Zack snapped at his target. He realized the man on the phone must be the one he had knocked out on first entering the house.

"You're bluffing," Samson replied.

"Oh really?" Zack fired a round and bounced some bullets off the soldier's helmet and kneecap armor.

"Ah!" the grunt flinched.

"Where're we going?" Zack demanded into the phone.

"Back to the base," the driver said. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want you to keep driving. Stop to come after me, and your friend's dead." With that Zack hung up and discarded the phone. The man eyed Aeris again.

"Is she—"

"Five seconds," Zack repeated darkly, raising the rifle again. "I'm waiting."

"You're crazy!"

Finger slipped in beside trigger. "Four."

"I won't be threatened by some lowlife fugitive!" The gun was cocked.

"That's lowlife ex-SOLDIER First Class to you." Zack pressed the gun against the man's forehead, pinning him to the wall. "Three. Two and a half."

"Y-your friends!" the man blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Zack lowered the weapon slightly, surprised that the man had actually come up with something.

"Your AVALANCHE friends. I saw them before we left the base. One of them was a woman right?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I-I think I know what might've been done to them."


	10. Hanging on

Tifa found herself dumped onto what looked like an operating table, her wrists and ankles shackled down. She craned her neck to try and see the large machine it was attached to, but a metal bar was suddenly locked down across her shoulders so that she couldn't move. A man in a lab coat stood over her with a smug grin on his face. She glared up at him.

"Didn't I tell you, Doctor Torin?" said the man who had brought her in.

"Yes…" the man with the lab coat said slowly, looking her over. "She's an ideal female specimen." They spoke as if she wasn't even human.

As Tifa stared helplessly at the ceiling she heard a monstrous roar from the next room, and a shout that was undoubtedly Cloud's. She shut her eyes in despair. _He's not going to last five minutes in there is he_. Her eyes flew open as she felt hands being run over her body, up her legs, over her chest, examining the 'specimen'.

"Oh, yes indeed …the anatomy is truly excellent," the one called Torin went on. He straightened up and gestured somewhere off to Tifa's left. "Alright then Morse," he said to the other man, "hand me those." She couldn't see what he was pointing at but moments later she felt the pricks of needles. Dozens of little tubes were being inserted into her body, all stemming from the machine behind her head.

"What the hell is going on?!" Tifa demanded. He stuck a syringe in Tifa's arm and pushed—it was a sedative. The last voice Tifa heard was Morse's.

"Don't fight it sweetheart," he said sarcastically. "Your boyfriend's dead."

"They're trying to _what?_" Zack exclaimed, in disbelief over what the Shinra grunt had just told him.

"Could I make it up? I don't think the rest of us are supposed to know, but—"

"Are they high or just stupid? Don't they know what'll happen if they do that?"

"Hey, I don't know man," said Samson, throwing up his hands. "I'm just the messeng—aah!" Suddenly there was loud thump and the whole truck lurched to the left, both men shouting as everyone was sent tumbling. The driver had taken the curve in the road far too quickly. Which would have been fine if the road hadn't been on the side of a cliff. They could feel themselves barrel-rolling over the edge. Then one of the rusty doors broke clean off as the truck hit a bump, sending Samson Zack and Aerith all flying out the back.

Zack pinned Aerith down alongside him with one arm as they landed on a lower ledge. The two Shinra grunts tumbled out of sight along with the truck, which crashed at the bottom in a fiery explosion, shaking everything. As the dust settled Zack saw a small space in the cliff face. He brought her inside and sat on the cold hard ground with her in his arms.

"Hey…Aerith, wake up." With a corner of her sheet he tried to wipe the soot and dust from her face. "I'm going to get us out of here. Both of us." Her silence was deafening. His eyes grew wild and his voice grew fierce. "Damn it, I am _not_ losing you, you hear me?!" He stared into her closed eyes, a feeling of helplessness coming over him. He held her body closer as his head and his voice fell. "Not to them."

Cloud was down on his hands and knees, surrounded by the flames. He clutched his flimsy sword and stared down at the lone faintly-glowing Ice materia in it. It was a wonder the weapon hadn't snapped in half by now. He closed his eyes as the sweat and blood dripped from his face, his forehead almost hitting the floor, ready to surrender. Then his eyes flew open again as he heard a bloodcurdling scream from the other room. Then another. So shrill that they hardly sounded human. He looked up in alarm at the closed door behind him.

_Tifa…_

Suddenly he jumped to his feet and whirled around to face the Ifrit one more time. The monster was rearing back for Hellfire. The swordsman leapt into the air for a Braver. Both struck at once, in an explosion of fire and ice that defeated the Ifrit and sent Cloud flying backwards through the door.


	11. The Secret Experiment

Aerith felt something soft against the side of her face. A shirt…damp with sweat and soot but…comforting, somehow. Warm, strong arms— someone was holding her. She coughed, and dragged her eyelids open to find another pair of eyes, searching for signs of life in hers. Mako eyes, black eyebrows, narrowed in uncertainty. Wait, mako?  
"Zack?"  
"Aerith." He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.  
"Zack, you…you came back. I didn't think…you were going to."  
"Why not?"  
Aeris told him about finding his sword by the side of the road. "I didn't want to tell the others, but I was sure that you…that they…" Her voice cracked suddenly and her words melted into silent tears as her fingers clutched his shirt. His comforting arms held her a little tighter and his lips brushed her cheek, knowing that some sentences are best left unfinished.  
"Aerith, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I even brought you here." He stared out at nothing. "Y'know, sometimes I think you'd be a lot safer if you'd never met me."  
She looked up at him. "But Zack, when I'm with you…I feel totally safe."  
"Heh, do you?" he said.  
"I always have," she replied, shaking her head. She settled back in against his chest, with tears still in her voice. "When you're here I somehow feel like…everything's…going to be okay."  
"Well at least one of us feels that way," Zack said with a smirk.  
"Hey, d'you hear something?" she said. Zack snapped his head in the direction of the sound. It was the blades of a chopper, and it sounded as if it was hovering right above them. Suddenly there was a huge explosion nearby that shook the whole cliff.  
"What the hell?" Zack set her down and dashed over to the cave entrance. He looked up to see a Shinra aircraft hovering menacingly before them. They had fired a missile into the rock face, missing them by less than a hundred feet. "Damn, they called for backup!" Aerith scrambled over as best she could to join him, holding her sheet on.  
"What do we do?"  
Zack's eyes stayed on the chopper. "Just stay back, I'll think of something," he said, putting his arm out in front of her. "They only want me anyway."  
"Zack, stop talking like that!" cried Aerith.  
But the next shot was almost dead-on—it hit directly below the cave and the ground exploded out from under them, sending them both tumbling out. Aerith yelped and Zack caught her wrist with one hand and the edge with the other. Bits of rock crumbled as he kicked his feet, trying to get traction. "Hang on!" he called to her.  
"I'm slipping!"  
"I gotcha." Showing fear wasn't an option. _We are so fucked_. Suddenly there was another explosion, but it didn't come from the chopper's missiles—it was in the dead center of the propeller. _What the…?_ The aircraft quickly spiraled down, hitting the ground in a fiery crash just as the truck had done. Another set of propellers whirred behind them. They looked up to see none other than the _Shera_ hovering there. They stared and then Zack burst out laughing as he realized what had just happened. Apparently Vincent knew a thing or two about calling for backup as well.

As the dust settled Cloud scrambled to his feet, sword still in hand. He looked up to see Tifa lying on the table, her eyes closed and her body twitching as a strange green liquid drained rapidly from two tanks into her veins. "Tifa!" he said, taking a step forward.  
"She can't hear you," said Dr. Torin smugly.  
"Stubborn one, you are," Morse said to Cloud. "Looks like we're going to have to kill you again after all."  
Suddenly Cloud noticed the color draining from Tifa's hair and skin. "What's in the tanks?" he snapped. They were more than half empty.  
"Ah, the direct approach," said Torin. "I like it."  
"Answer me!" Cloud shouted, pointing the flimsy sword at Torin's throat. Then the doctor started laughing. Clearly he wasn't threatened by the worn-out blonde with the even more worn-out weapon. Finally he said,  
"Well I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to tell a man who's about to die. They're special cells, sent here for safekeeping, many years ago."  
"Sent by who?" Cloud said slowly, glaring at him.  
The doctor smiled. "Hojo," he said. "They were called J cells. I'll give you three guesses as to where they came from." Cloud's eyes went perfectly round.  
"You son of a BITCH!" Cloud lunged for Torin but Torin dodged him and the sword collided with the right-side tank instead. Cloud shattered it, sending the remaining J cells gushing out. Then he jumped up, smashing the other tank and hacking through all of the tubes and wires that connected Tifa to the machine. Finally he landed on his feet on the other side, seething as he lowered the sword. But to his surprise the other men did not attack him. In fact, they were laughing again. An eerie, sadistic laugh—much like the one Cloud had heard from Sephiroth in his recent nightmare. Morse and Torin gave a slow, sarcastic applause.  
"Your energy's impressive," said Morse.  
"Just a little ill-timed," Torin added. "Unfortunately for you, _those_ have already been used up." He jerked his head towards the corner, and Cloud saw two more tanks, both empty. Torin smiled again. "It's still enough."  
"Enough?"  
"Supposedly, J cells gave Jenova her feminine qualities. A sort of extraterrestrial estrogen, if you will. Hojo thought that if he were to put enough of these J cells into one physically fit female body — such as this lovely creature here—" he said, gesturing towards Tifa, "it would become not merely Sephiroth, but…" Suddenly Cloud heard a horrible tearing sound. He whirled around to see that Tifa's limbs had all split in half, doubling in number, going limp and flailing wildly. Cloud knew the name before Torin spoke it "…Jenova herself.".


	12. I smell a clusterfuck

Within moments Zack and Aerith were safely aboard the _Shera_. A couple of crewmen led them topside. They made their way over to where the others were waiting, Aerith leaning on Zack for support.

"They're here!" announced Denzel, running to meet them with Zack's mom at his heels. The bedraggled couple soon found themselves wrapped in hugs.

"Tweedledee and Tweedledum both accounted for?" called Cid from the wheel.

"Affirmative," said Vincent, glancing back.

"Oh Zack, we never doubted you for a minute!" his mom was saying.

"Is that why you've been pacin' back 'n' forth the whole damn time ya been on?" Cid broke in. The old woman shot Cid a look and her son burst out laughing.

"I'm too old for this shit," she grumbled.

"I like you lady," Cid said with a smirk, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "But Zack you get them outta here," he said. "The girls and the runt'll be safer below deck."

"Aye aye Cap'n," Zack joked. "C'mon guys." He led his mother, Aerith and Denzel to safety and returned a few moments later. He walked up to the front towards Vincent and Cid and leaned against a nearby wall, arms folded. "I don't know how to thank you guys," he muttered. "I didn't want to say it in front of the others but, man," he shook his head, almost laughing, "we were _screwed_."

"Don't thank us, thank Reeve," Cid said over his shoulder. "He's the one payin' me off to bail yer ass out. Hey Vin, what's that other stop? Reeve wouldn't say. He was into his secrecy shit. Said you would know."

"The old Shinra base a few miles north. There is volatile material there that we need to destroy," Vincent replied. "Also…Cloud and Tifa have been taken prisoner there." He and Zack exchanged glances. Should he say it? "They may not have…survived."

"Holy hell, why didn't ya say so?" said Cid. "I smell a clusterfuck. What were they doin' all the way out here anyway?" Zack looked away guiltily, knowing that he was part of the reason. "Well either way we're goin'. Then I'll take whoever's still breathin' back home to the bar."

"That'd be great," Zack said, his voice tired.

"Might as well. You need sleep, I need a beer, and Aerith needs to put somethin' on other than a sheet. I dunno what the hell happened to y'all but right now she looks like a two-gil hooker."

"You're all heart, Cid," muttered Zack sarcastically.

"Yer welcome."

The Tifa-Jenova creature's body lurched violently in all directions, as if being pulled by an unknown force. Her limbs had become tentacles, thrashing uncontrollably. "Shinra will use her as a weapon," Dr. Torin was saying, "to take down fools like you, and reclaim the world once and for all!"

"She'll _destroy_ the world," Cloud growled, "and take you down with it!" He lunged again at Torin, only to be grabbed and restrained by the hulking Sergeant Morse, the small sword clattering to the ground.

"I know what you're thinking," Torin went on, smiling wickedly. "The only way it can be reversed would be if the subject ingested S cells, the masculine counterpart, before the transformation process is over. Of course they can only come from Sephiroth himself, or one of his clones. And as you can see," the man said with a chuckle, "he doesn't appear to be here." Tifa-Jenova's inhuman shrieks grew shriller, the concentrated J cells shooting through her veins like bolts of electricity. Her eyes flickered mako green. Her hair had gone almost entirely white, her skin an icy blue, resembling in every way the horrible alien creature. Cloud could only watch in horror, his stomach turning. Within moments the Tifa he knew would completely become Jenova, and there was nothing he could do to— wait. Wasn't _he_ a Sephiroth clone, in a way? Cloud had a wild thought—he had no idea if it would work, but there was no time to wonder.

Suddenly he stomped on Morse's foot; he elbowed him in the stomach and broke away, punching Torin in the face when the doctor tried to grab him. Cloud lunged forward and dove onto the machine, and grabbed onto what was left of Tifa-Jenova's shoulders. Then he pressed his mouth against hers, breathing his S cells into her as hard as he could to try and cancel out the J cells. He couldn't think about the fact that his lungs were burning, or that his failure would result in the resurrection of the most feared calamity that the cosmos had ever seen; in that moment his only thought was of saving Tifa from this body. Her head and chest heaved up and down as she subconsciously took in his breaths. Green steam billowed forth as the J and S cells collided. The entire machine shook, the remaining tubes and pipes starting to burst; the gauges and buttons and levers began breaking off and shooting across the room, and Tifa-Jenova's tentacles continued to flail wildly. One struck Cloud across the face and he lurched backwards. The other two men staggered back nervously, knowing all control was lost. To Tifa-Jenova's right Dr. Torin went for his gun, only to have a tentacle jump around his throat, and lift him off the floor. The weapon fell from his hand as he kicked and squirmed and tried to pull the appendage away, but it was no use. He tried to choke out orders. "A-abort! Kill it, KILL IT!" But Tifa-Jenova's thrashing made it difficult for Morse to get any closer, and before anyone knew it, Torin's shouting and squirming had stopped. His eyes were wide open and his legs dangled limply; she had snapped his neck.

As his body was dropped, the tentacle that had struck Cloud was encircling him from the ankles up, too fast for him to fight it off, lifting him up in the air as well. Within seconds he was bound up to his neck, the creature squeezing him like a boa constrictor. It was as if she remembered, even subconsciously, that he was harder to kill than most. Cloud felt as if his lungs were being crushed, could almost feel his bones breaking. What he didn't see was the color slowly returning to Tifa's hair and skin, the tentacles starting to break off and disintegrate. The number of tentacles was down to ten, now eight, six…suddenly the one holding Cloud shot off; it rapidly unraveled and hurled him across the room. His body hit the wall and fell behind another operating table. He got up to his hands and knees, and from under the table caught a glimpse of a flustered Morse looking at his fallen comrade. Then with a wild rage in his eyes Morse turned back to the Tifa-Jenova creature, who now looked more like Tifa than anything else. Cloud's hands appeared over the table as he pulled himself up. As he perched atop it he saw Morse, the lone remaining enemy, seize the abandoned sword from the floor and charge forward. The blade was held high like a dagger, headed straight for Tifa's heart.


	13. Sacrifice

"How's it going, Cid?" Zack asked, as he and Vincent stood by the _Shera_'s helm.

"Smooth sailin' so far," the pilot replied. "Though we might get some company as we get closer. How's your cargo?"

"Everyone's asleep last I checked," said Zack.

"Not everyone," said Cid, looking out of the corner of his eye. "The runt's up." Zack and Vincent turned to see Denzel at the top of the steps.

"Zack?" he said, "Are we almost there yet?"

"You should be probably be below deck, kiddo," Cid called.

"Please? I want to see Cloud and Tifa." Zack and Vincent exchanged glances. The last they had seen Cloud and Tifa, they were hanging over a minefield. And they didn't feel like traumatizing the kid for life. But Denzel had already crossed the room and had his nose pressed against the glass of the airship. "Hey, what's that?" he asked. Zack came over to see where the boy was pointing, and froze. Where the old Shinra base had once stood was now a smoldering cliff. Some of the walls still stood, but they could see the exploded minefield and the giant hole that the Ifrit had made. Smoke poured up from the ruins. Denzel turned to Zack, who still hadn't answered. Suddenly the ex-SOLDIER noticed something else. The last dozen or so Shinra infantrymen were assembling atop the wall for a final stand—with rocket launchers. The pilot saw them too as they took aim.

"Activate air-to-ground missiles!" Cid ordered. But it was too late—the enemy troops had already fired.

"Incoming!" a crew member shouted. Zack seized Denzel and yanked him away from the glass as the rockets hurtled towards the _Shera_.

A blonde blur broadsided the J-cell machine as Morse's dagger struck, and a sharp cry of pain rang out as two bodies hit the floor. As Morse let go, he was stunned to see that the weapon was not buried in the chest of the 'sample', but in—

"The Sephiroth clone!" cried Morse. "You little bastard!"

A seething Cloud dragged himself to his feet, and reached around to his back with a shaking hand. "Those…days…are over," he croaked, tearing the blade out, "and so…are…yours!" With one swing Cloud lunged at the guard and slashed his throat.

Morse's eyes widened in shock as he fell to his knees and began to choke, holding his hand to his neck. As he staggered to his feet again, he spotted his dead friend's gun on the floor. He grabbed it and fired towards Cloud's hand, knocking the weapon away before the swordsman could make another move. A maniacal grin crossed Morse's face as his prisoner stumbled backwards against the machine. Morse aimed the gun once more with an unsteady hand, seeing double as he tried to figure out which blond spiky head to shoot. At that moment Tifa reached up and snapped off the closest broken lever. With the last of Jenova's strength she hurled the jagged metal directly into the dying guard's heart. The gun went off as he fell, clipping his target. Tifa heard the back of Cloud's skull hit the cold stone floor with a sickening thud.


End file.
